Lufthansa receives approval to operate A380 to New Delhi

German flag carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG whose plan to operate the Airbus A380 super-jumbo on the New Delhi Frankfurt route was delayed due to non-approval of their winter schedule by various authorities under India’s ministry of civil aviation (read related story), has finally obtained approval of the schedule.

A spokesperson for the airline informed Bangalore Aviation that the airline now plans to commence A380 operations “as soon as possible, but latest by November 7, 2014”.

The airline had issued a statement earlier in the day explaining the delay

Lufthansa had, as announced, originally planned to operate the daily LH 760/761 flight between Frankfurt and Delhi at the start of the winter flight schedules 2014/15 (26 October 2014) with an Airbus A380 instead of a Boeing 747. The bilateral traffic rights required for approval of the deployment of an A380 are spelt out in a binding agreement between Germany and India, which came into force on 7 October 2014. Under the terms of that agreement, however, an application must be submitted and formally approved for every timetable actually planned for each timetable period. Our timetable (for the winter timetable) has not yet been released by the authorities. In consequence, the switch to an A380 for flight LH 760/761 has been delayed, so the connection will continue to be flown initially up to Thursday, 06 November (including), by a Boeing 747. Lufthansa, the German embassy in Delhi, the German Transport Ministry and Foreign Ministry are pursuing every possible avenue in a bid to get the A380 operating on the route to Delhi as soon as possible.

About Devesh Agarwal

A electronics and automotive product management, marketing and branding expert, he was awarded a silver medal at the Lockheed Martin innovation competition 2010.
He is ranked 6th on Mashable's list of aviation pros on Twitter and in addition to Bangalore Aviation, he has contributed to leading publications like Aviation Week, Conde Nast Traveller India, The Economic Times, and The Mint (a Wall Street Journal content partner).
He remains a frequent flier and shares the good, the bad, and the ugly about the Indian aviation industry without fear or favour.